Never Twice The Same project image

Never Twice The Same

“What is the role of art?” This simple question is offered by American artist Robert Irwin as a passage into larger discussions reflected in his lifelong inquiry into light and space, experience and perception, and the placement of the artist among these phenomena. An intimate portrait of Irwin working alongside trusted collaborators at the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas, the film takes its cues from the words and writings of the artist himself.

Director + Producer

Joseph Cashiola

Executive Producers

Carolyn Pfeiffer

Nancy P. Sanders

Producers

David Hollander

Jennifer Lane

Artist

Robert Irwin

Project Type

Documentary Feature

Project Status

Post-Production

15 years in the making, Irwin's monumental artwork is being constructed as a permanent installation at the Chinati Foundation, an unconventional museum created from the remnants of a WWII military fort. In a remote border landscape known for its harsh seasonal conditions, Irwin & his team work through challenges to realize the construction of Irwin's vision before his death at age 95. Irwin reimagines an old Army hospital ruin is as an instrument dedicated to light and shadow, creating a remarkable parting gift: an analogue device meant to engage the full range of human perception and participation.

Director/Editor/Producer

Joseph Cashiola has been living and making films in the Big Bend Region of Texas for 17 years. His documentary films have played at film festivals across the US, including DOCNYC in New York, SXSW in Austin, and RiverRun in Winston – Salem, NC. He has produced & directed documentary films for PBS affiliates across Texas, including KLRU in Austin, Basin PBS in Midland, and KTTZ in Lubbock. Joseph is an Alumni of IFP’s Filmmaker Labs for his narrative feature A Thing as Big as the Ocean. In 2019 he co-directed A Texas Myth for PBS’s Reel South, which follows an Indigenous protest camp fighting a pipeline near the US–Mexico border. Joseph was a producer for the biopic of artist Robert Irwin A Desert of Pure Feeling, distributed by Greenwich Films in 2023. Most recently he created “Open Air Museum/s,” a years-long documentary project tracing connections between West Texas and Western Sicily through migration, family, and identity.

Executive Producer

Carolyn Pfeiffer has produced over 25 feature films. Her work has been invited to many festivals including Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, Telluride, and Berlin. Early in her career, she started a PR company in London where her clients included Robert Altman, Robert Redford, Barbra Streisand, Francois Truffaut, The Beatles company Apple Corps Ltd, and Paul McCartney & Wings. She was founding president of Island Alive and co-chair of Alive Films where films released included CHOOSE ME, EL NORTE, STOP MAKING SENSE, KOYANNISQATSI and KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN. She was founding president of The Los Angeles Film School and then co-chair and master-filmmaker-in-residence at the American Film Institute Conservatory. In 2003 she was Founding President/CEO of Burnt Orange Productions at the University of Texas. She executive-produced the acclaimed documentaries CHILDREN OF GIANT, A DESERT OF PURE FEELING on light and space artist Robert Irwin, and Keith Maitland’s DEAR MR. BRODY. HarperCollins published her memoir “Chasing the Panther” in 2023. Pfeiffer is a former president of FIND and member of the Motion Picture Academy.